


Still Waiting On My Letter

by orphan_account



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Greg confirmed it it's canon, Wally is a Potterhead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-29
Updated: 2012-12-29
Packaged: 2017-11-22 21:45:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/614686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wally likes Harry Potter. Like, <i>a lot</i>. Unfortunately, his parents don't have the heart to tell him that it's not real...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still Waiting On My Letter

**Author's Note:**

> A bit AU - I made Wally's birthday January 16, the way it was in 1976 DC Comics continuity. (Why didn't Grandon use that date it was another 16 jfc).
> 
> Also, I used the American title for HP1, because Wally is American (even though I _hate_ that they changed the title for us Americans _so much_ )

One of Wally’s earliest (and most vivid) memories is his mother telling him that she bought a new book and that she’d like to read it with him. Wally was an avid reader (he read everything as a child, but his absolute favorite books were science books), so he agreed right away. He remembers his mother picking him up and placing him on her lap, and then laying the book out in front of him.

The cover read _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone_ in a fancy gold script, and there was a stylistic picture of a dark-haired boy _on a flying broomstick_ reaching out to catch a little winged ball. Wally had no idea what the story was about (A sorcerer? Or, at least, his stone), but he figured he’d read it anyway if only to please his mother.

_"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense..."_

\--

From then on, Wally was hooked.

\--

Wally waited patiently (or really, not so patiently) for every single book to come out. He bought the coveted tickets to the movie premiere of _The Sorcerer’s Stone_ (and every movie thereafter), and attended it in full costume (he was, of course, a Gryffindor – it had to be a cool house if it shared colors with _The Flash_ , only the coolest superhero _ever_ ).

He believed with _all his heart_ and _all his soul_ that Harry Potter was _real_. That _magic_ was real. That _Hogwarts_ was real (Zatara had to have trained and learned his magic _somewhere_ , right?).

Wally waited many, many agonizing years for any sign of magical talent. _Of course_ he was a wizard! Who cared anymore about blood status? So what if he was a muggleborn (well, unless his parents were hiding some really big secrets from him)?

He believed in magic so much that he started seeing it wherever he could. His bad haircut looked way better the next day? Magic. That car didn’t hit him when he ran into the road chasing after his ball? That was magic. He won the relay race at school? Obviously, magic helped him.

All of these cases of “accidental magic” only further cemented Wally’s belief that he was a wizard. Now, it was only a matter of time before his eleventh birthday, and, of course, his _Hogwarts acceptance letter_.  

He starts packing for Hogwarts over the summer before his birthday. Anticipating the purchase of a wizard’s trunk, he instead allots his items into two piles: things that can stay at home, and things that he’ll bring with him. He reluctantly places all his beloved video games in the “leave at home pile,” because, like every good wizard, he knows that electronics didn’t work in highly magical places like Hogwarts. Things like comics, action figures (his full collection, including limited edition versions, of the Flash!), and his full set of the Harry Potter books he deems acceptable to bring to his future school of magic.

Mary and Rudolph West can only shake their heads and sigh at Wally’s antics. It had been cute at first (really, rather adorable), but his obsession now borders on ridiculous. The worst part was that it will just break his little heart when he eventually finds out his world of magic isn’t actually real. They gently try to coax his attention in other directions, but nothing works.

Then January 16, his eleventh birthday, rolls around. Wally awakes that Tuesday morning rather early – early being four in the morning, much to his parents’ chagrin. Luckily (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), it happens to be a snow day. When breakfast time comes and no letter arrives, Wally brushes it off, saying that no self-respecting owl would try to fly through the snowstorm raging outside of his house.

Two days later and all of the roads are finally clear – but still no letter. That’s when Wally first begins to doubt. When no letter arrives three days later, Mary West tentatively tries to explain that she’s really sorry, but Harry Potter simply…isn’t real.

Wally replies to her with an emphatic shout of, “Liar! It _is!”_ , but his reservations begin to show as he stomps up to his bedroom and slams the door. When Mary walks by his room an hour later, she can just make out the sound of muffled sobs coming through the door. She pauses, hand on the doorknob, but eventually departs without saying a word – she doesn’t know how to comfort Wally about this situation.

He doesn’t come down for dinner, and absolutely _refuses_ to get out of bed for school on Friday despite his parents’ best efforts. He remains holed up in his room and, Mary suspects, rereads _Harry Potter_. Friday evening he finally emerges from his room, subdued and gloomy. He barely speaks a word, but eats his dinner (and seconds, and thirds – he’d barely had an appetite the past couple of days) without complaint, and does his homework.

Saturday morning he emerges from his room again, though a change has overcome him. There are no signs of his previous sorrow, as he has a bright smile on his face and a bounce in his step. When he sits down for dinner that evening, he babbles on about science – a huge change from Harry Potter discussions, to which Mary and Rudolph are more accustomed.

His parents don’t mention Harry Potter or his gloomy period, though they do recommend that he talk to his Aunt Iris’ new husband about science – the man is a professional forensic scientist, after all. Wally seems a bit nervous about talking to a man he doesn’t know very well, but quickly agrees. “After all, I _do_ want to be a scientist when I grow up!” he declares, much to Mary and Rudolph’s shock (and relief, if they’re being honest).

They tentatively crack open the door to their son’s bedroom much later that night. Wally is sound asleep, sprawled across his bed as his feet twitch in his sleep, and his room is remarkably neat. The two piles that had dominated his room since summertime are finally gone, and though it breaks Mary’s heart a bit, she’s glad that he’s finally moved on to more realistic dreams.

What would she say if she knew her son’s dreams that night are of him running alongside the Flash?

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe I'm being a worrywart, but I'm not trying to offend anyone with this fic. I think we all believed/still believe/are still trying to believe that Harry Potter is real. It's nice to think that there's some magic in the world, after all.
> 
> (this was a very old fic that i FINALLY finished so i'm sorry if the style seems odd...i think i started this almost a year ago.)


End file.
